How important is it to attend school board meetings and serve on committees?

Jim Grabusky: It’s critical to attend the meetings if you’re on the board. That’s the reason you’re volunteering; to discuss the issues going on in the schools. It’s absolutely critical.

Jeffrey Dimmig: I don’t think we need to belabor the point. You need to be at every meeting we have. I don’t always agree with everyone on the board, but I don’t question the dedication of any person on the board. We have a very dedicated board. It seems like there’s a lot of very dedicated people here tonight. It’s a commitment. You need to make that commitment. I would like to see us get the community involved at the committees. I would love to bring parents in. That’s an untapped resourced.

William Lycett: I think if you’re on the board or a committee, you need to participate.  If that means being at the meeting, you need to be at the meeting. With that said, will there be some meetings that I will miss? Yeah. I run my own business, and I may have to be out of town. But I will still make my points known and get as much information as I can to try and make an influence. In terms of participation in the community, I’ve participated in sports and many other things. I’ve participated on parks, and I think the community involvement via participation at meetings, via advisory committees, I think that’s essential to have a well- functioning board.  I’d like to see more of it. I think it’s probably one of the most important things a school board could do.

John Quigley: As far as attending meetings that’s what you do. How important is it for the community? That’s equally important. Members of the board act with knowledge we have without knowing information from the community. Whenever we make the wrong decision people show up, and let us know, but I would like to see more people, hear more input, so we know which direction to go.

Corrine A. Gunkle: I agree that attendance is critical, and also I will say that participation in committee, that is where the predominant amount of work is done.  As a board, I will say that perhaps we have not been as strict amongst ourselves on this particular policy as we ought to be. I mean, there are legal reasons that people weren’t attending meetings that you can have them removed from the board and I think that the community deserves to have nine active boards member who are participating by attending meetings and who are participating in committees.

Editor’s Note: Answers have been edited for clarity and grammar. Content has remained unchanged.